11th Edition Launch Box Astartes Models Possibilities

[jaxom]

6 hours ago, Tacitus said:

Battle Forces are all theme and don't have to balance like Combat Patrols.  Battle Forces/Boxes will be all flavor with no attention paid to playability.   Sometimes they're called Deathwing Assault, and sometimes they're called Ravenwing Army Box Force but Its mostly larger points wise than a Combat Patrol and fully thematic.  25 Terminators.  20 Jump Troops and 20 Phobos.  20 yellow HINTS and 10 Bolternators. 

Seems like launch boxes are Battle Forces using that definition.

[DemonGSides]

Launch boxes as in something like Leviathan are just that; Boxes of pretty much entirely new sprues that are then bundled with the core rules and maybe some other doo-dads like dice and rulers.

 

Battleforce specifically is a collection of sprues without any extra rules information that are sold together in a set, previously almost exclusively at Christmas-time but in 10th that was expanded and now they are released kinda whenever, usually alongside a codex but not bundled with a codex and have whatever the new unit for the faction is for this edition; Death Guard got this with the new Lord of Poxes and a bunch of other kits.  As mentioned they're usually themed around something and given a name; Cadian Defense Force or something like that when it was Two Dorns and a 20man+Command Squad.  Tacticus thinks that these are cobbled together out of 'unsold kits' in a factory; they aren't, that makes 0 logistical sense and no company is going to pay people to break down boxes to then put back into their distribution system for bundling into another box.  They are most likely print to whatever specifications that GW wants for numbers and then distributed.

 

Army Boxes are usually built around new releases; something like the DKoK box that came out for Guard this edition, or the Kroot box that came out or the Blood Angel or Space Wolves boxes that came out that bundle a couple of new units with a Premium Codex and some Premium data cards.

 

Combat Patrols are Combat Patrols.

Edited October 24 by DemonGSides

[jaxom]

The next launch box will consist of new kits and be organized around a theme. Presumably the Marine half will also contain the models to make a new Combat Patrol.

[Tacitus]

17 hours ago, jaxom said:

Seems like launch boxes are Battle Forces using that definition.

There was no theme to Leviathan.  Some Terminators, some Infernusators, Sternguard, two characters, only one of which can join the terminators, a solitary Gravis character that can't join anything on the list, a power armored character that can never join anything and a gunboat Dread.  There's zero theme there beyond some weird stuff tossed on top of the new recipe for a combat patrol.  The closest you come are the Terminators + Sternguard starting a First Company theme that then... dies.

[Karhedron]

5 hours ago, Tacitus said:

There was no theme to Leviathan.

 

There was a loose theme of Veterans in the Terminators, Sternguard and Dreadnought. The Lt is also depicted as a grizzled veteran.

[Tacitus]

20 hours ago, Karhedron said:

 

There was a loose theme of Veterans in the Terminators, Sternguard and Dreadnought. The Lt is also depicted as a grizzled veteran.

Yeah that's not a theme.  If you have to admit its a "loose theme" just to try and call it a theme, its not a theme.  The Ravenstrike box was a theme.  Every model was in Phobos Armor.  Bastion Strike Force - 18 Imperial Fists all in Gravis Armor with Bolters.   Scions of Ultramar - practically a Demi Company with 2HQ, 1 Troop, 1 Heavy Support,  and 1 Elite.  The Storm of Chogoris - 6 bikes, 2 Carts, a Chaplain on Bike, and their named who didn't really fit beyond every Army box gave you that chapter's named.  The Warforged Strike Force had Flamer Aggressors, Melta Eradicators, and the obligatory named.  It also included 10 Intercessors that would have been an Infernus Squad had they been around at that point.  The March of Iron had a similar build - two Redemptors (That I think had they been around would have been Brutalis for the "hands") the named Captain who was also a Techmarine, and a (second) techmarine, plus 10 Intercessors to have a Troop since there aren't any handy/vehicle troops for space marines.  The Deathwing Assault Box had a Terminator HQ, and 2 or 3 Terminator Squads. 

 

The Shieldbreaker Strike Force was again, Force Org themed with HINTS, Intercessors, and Assault Intercessors (The Jumpy guys weren't made yet)  The Plaguefester Warband has the vehicles a fluffy Nurgle army wants for their big guns.  I'm tempted to make a Nurgle is already a theme joke, but we both can see what I'm talking about in the list so far.  The Court of the Crimson King is fluffy, but doesn't have a whole lot of room to be anything but what it is once you shoehorn Magnus in there.  Same with Morty and his box.  The Elimination Maniple is Robots and more Robots.  Sanctorum Guard is warsuits and the Big Lady Warsuit.  The Watchers of the Gate, and the Chainbreaker Lance also have baseline variety issues to create a theme, but the faction had to have a box.  The Inner Circle Task Force has similar issues to all the Primarch boxes, but it turned out to be surprisingly fluffy with the ICC partnered with the Deathwing and their Chaplain to protect the Lion.  The Retaliation Cadre is all about Big Suits.  The Penitent Crusader Host delves deep into the dark side of the Ecclesiarchy.

 

Most battle force army box sets have a theme.  That theme is usually fluffy and packed densely enough to beat people over the head with.

[Tacitus]

On 10/24/2025 at 5:11 AM, DemonGSides said:

Tacticus thinks that these are cobbled together out of 'unsold kits' in a factory; they aren't, that makes 0 logistical sense and no company is going to pay people to break down boxes to then put back into their distribution system for bundling into another box.  They are most likely print to whatever specifications that GW wants for numbers and then distributed.

 

Not necessarily.  I said I think they push the stuff that doesn't sell by putting it in a value box.  It may come from previous value boxes that didn't sell, it may come from new sprues, but stuff you already had from a previous box does tend to keep showing up in the new boxes.  

Do you think - when they changed from Armor Value to Toughness for example - they paid some temps to break down every land raider box and replace the booklet or do you think they threw away all the boxes and made new ones with new booklets?

[DemonGSides]

8 hours ago, Tacitus said:

Not necessarily.  I said I think they push the stuff that doesn't sell by putting it in a value box.  It may come from previous value boxes that didn't sell, it may come from new sprues, but stuff you already had from a previous box does tend to keep showing up in the new boxes.  

Do you think - when they changed from Armor Value to Toughness for example - they paid some temps to break down every land raider box and replace the booklet or do you think they threw away all the boxes and made new ones with new booklets?

 

Considering I've bought plenty of kits relatively recently that still had 9th ed instruction pack ins; they don't.  They produce new boxes that then get the new inserts and old stock is sold off before that happens.  In fact, I think every Death Guard kit except for the Lord of Poxes (Which has only existed in 1 edition of the game) still comes packed in with instructions that are 8th/9th focused, and that's from a battleforce box you are specifically saying gets repackaged.

 

I'm not sure what fantastical factory world you live in, but those types of things that cost money and don't provide tangible benefits are not done.  Repackaging and updating instructions every edition is FOR SURE not done.

[jaxom]

On 10/25/2025 at 12:27 AM, Tacitus said:

There was no theme to Leviathan. 

Depending on language one might not use theme, but there’s definitely a story behind it.

[Tacitus]

Space Marine 2 has plenty of story.  No theme.